Social Media

Mark Zuckerberg Spent $700,000 Flying on Private Planes Last Year

Ah, to live the luxurious life. Facebook announced on Wednesday via its filing for an initial public offering (IPO) how the company fared in 2011, and not surprisingly, its employees racked up (and spent) big money last year.

The Facebook IPO provided details about the base salary of the team, including founder Mark Zuckerberg pulling in a salary of $483,333, plus a $220,500 bonus and “other compensation” worth $783,529.

The filing noted that he spent nearly $700,000 for costs related to private plane use "chartered in connection with his comprehensive security program and on which family and friends flew during 2011." That includes passenger fees, fuel, crew and catering costs. Another $90,850 of that amount was for “costs related to estate and financial planning.”

Executives were under fire several years ago amid the bank bailout crisis for spending top dollar on chartering private planes. But some high-paid executives — including Steve Jobs — still made some room for traveling in luxury. In fact, flying private was one of the few luxuries the Apple founder afforded himself.

But Zuckerberg wasn't the highest paid Facebook employee during 2011. In fact, COO Sheryl Sandberg — who earned a base salary of $300,000 — raked in $30.87 million last year.

However, if Facebook manages to raise this capital, it will be on a shortlist of the biggest tech IPOs of all time, and Zuckerberg’s net worth will skyrocket since he owns 28.4% of the company. In fact, Zuckerberg’s salary will fall to $1 annually starting Jan. 1, 2013.

Facebook — which earned $1 billion on sales of $3.7 billion in 2011 — now has 845 million active users on the site, up from the estimated 800 million using the site back in September. The company also noted that 250 million photos are uploaded daily and 2.7 billion likes and comments are made each day. Overall, there are a whopping 100 billion friendships on the site.

BONUS: Facebook's Road to IPO

10 Giant Things Less Valuable Than Facebook

1. The Economy of Qatar

2. 6.3 Months Worth of Fast Food in the U.S.

According to a survey by Mint, Americans spend an average of $51.79 on fast food per month. Multiply that by the population (307,006,550) and you discover that Americans spend $15,899,869,225 per month on fast food. Multiply that by 6.25 months and you reach $99,374,182,653.

3. The Cost of Breast Cancer Treatment for 6 Years

4. 120 Eiffel Towers

National Geographic's TV show Pricing the Pricelessestimates that rebuilding the Eiffel Tower today would cost $480 million plus the cost of land, another $350 million. Therefore, you'd be able to build 120 Eiffel Towers for $99.6 billion.

10. 50 Naval Submarines

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